Iwata: "PSN and Live too far developed for us to catch up"

[Dodece]

These comments coming out of Nintendo concern me greatly, and arguments as to why they shouldn't are simply obtuse. Cross game continuous chat isn't optional. It is a standard feature, and that makes it mandatory. Nintendo in no way should feel that they have a choice in this matter. This has been a staple of online gaming in PCs for almost twenty years, and is thoroughly entrenched in the current generation. To be even more blunt as if I really need to. There is no fundamental technological justification for it not being made available.

I could run voice chat applications behind games I was playing twelve years ago on my PC, and it wasn't even top of the line for the time. A new console a decade removed from that time should have more then enough power to handle the same today, and if Nintendo cannot handle it through their online strategy. They could do the right thing, and open up the platform to third parties that sell such applications. So users of their hardware can just run the application for themselves.

Which is partly where I think things are headed for the competitors. I have little doubt that both of their rivals are going to offer up the ability for their users to create dedicated chat channels. Where one player can create their own chat room open to the public, and in some cases game specific. So not only will players be able to continue playing uninterrupted, but they are going to be able to freely socialize with random people.

What happens then is those new consoles will look really pro social. While the Nintendo console looks antisocial and antiquated. The only solution I see is for Nintendo to reverse the dynamic if they are not going to play into the dynamic. They need to make their hub world the reason that players play games. They need to have reverse bleed through. They need to make the more antisocial experience of playing games on their platform into a way that players can further their agenda in the hub world.

You make the purpose of playing on the console the obtainment of swag in stand alone games which can then be brought back to the hub world for use. Think of the hub world like the over world in Zelda games, and the retail games like dungeons, and just like Zelda completing dungeons gets you new gear that you can use to open up even more of the over world. Like place a city space on top of a mountain that cannot be climbed. To get up to the top you need certain swags to get there.

You could go play a new Pilotwings to get a jet pack, or you could buy the new Starfox to get a fighter to fly you up there. I guess what I am saying is make the communal space into a Massive Multiplayer space. Which isn't what I am seeing out of Nintendo sadly. I am just seeing a big antiseptic space full of advertising and inane banter. It is really hard to see why people would want to spend precious time in what amounts to a hospital waiting room.

I am just not seeing anything remotely fun about what Nintendo is planning to do with their new console. Ideally you want to see the experience getting more interactive over time. I want someone to explain to me how being more closed off from others is in any way ideal.